GameStorm 13 - The Magic Orange Cone

One of the cool things about GameStorm is how easy it is to find your way into a game. Though there are many scheduled games there are also a ton of pickup games. GameStorm offers, as one of its features, a game library numbering something like 200 games that can be checked out by conventioneers at any time.



Game Library - GameStorm 11 (2009)

But what is this about an orange cone with mystical power?

As I mentioned above, it's really easy to find you way into a game and it is these cones that make it so. If you have a game with openings left in it, it is considered proper GS etiquette to set a traffic cone at the end of the table. This is an open invitation for anybody to walk up and join in. When you are full up or feel you have a good number of players, you take the cone down.

This is such a good strategy as it really cuts through all the awkwardness of approaching a strange game table. No need to ask to join, just simply slide up and introduce yourself. Proper greetings and niceties ensue and you are in a game. It also has the benefit of warding off those who might otherwise try to bug you during play. No cone, don't ask to join in. By all means stop by and ask about the game and chat with the players but make sure you observe proper table etiquette and don't badger, interrupt or interact to the point of distraction.

This is a tool that I wouldn't mind seeing at other events. Face it, us gamers aren't always the most social of folks, even when surrounded by our own kind. The hobby also has it share of snobs, elitists, grognards, newbs, etc and the orange cone systems really works for all parties concerned. If you are picky about your players, don't put out a cone and wait for interested parties to approach on their own. If you are new to the convention, don't have con buddies, or are looking to meet new players, then the orange cone is your friend.

So, let's all have a warm roundof applause for our friend, The Orange Cone (insert archetypical 1950s science film music)

-Eli